Hults Leads FLW Series Event On Lake Eufaula

Mar 12th, 2010 by OutdoorsFIRST

Modified Mar 12th, 2010 at 12:00 AM

EUFAULA, Ala. (March 12, 2010) – Alan Hults of Gautier, Miss., caught a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 5 ounces Friday to widen his lead in the FLW Series Eastern Division tournament on Lake Eufaula. With a three-day catch of 15 bass weighing 63-4, he holds a 3-pound, 2-ounce lead over his closest competitor, Lloyd Pickett Jr. of Bartlett, Tenn., heading into the final day of competition.

“I changed up today and went down and fished an area I hadn’t fished all tournament,” said Hults, who is fishing in his first event as a pro. “About the second cast I hooked a good one and lost it. I went on in and missed another big one and missed another one. I said, ‘I can’t do anything right today.'”

Hults said he relocated to a creek where he had success on the first day of competition and said nothing felt right. He then returned to the area where he had caught fish earlier in the morning.

Hults said now he is concentrating his efforts in two spots and using a mixture of a 4-inch Berkley Chigger Craw, chatter-type bait and a swimming jig to catch his fish. He said he caught eight keepers during Friday’s competition, down from the previous two days.

“I’m going to do the same thing I did today, and if I catch them, I catch them, and if I don’t, I don’t,” Hults said.

Pickett caught a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 60-2 to advance to the final round as the No. 2 seed.

“On the last cast before I came in I caught a 5-pound fish,” said Pickett, who said all five of his Friday keeper bass came on a Carolina rig tipped with either a soft plastic lizard or creature bait. “But it was because the sun came out. As soon as the sun popped out, shad started coming up and I saw the fish blow up and I put the trolling motor on high, went straight to them, threw on top of them and boom.”

Pickett said because of rising water levels and muddy water he is down to only three fishable spots of the six he had been fishing. He said he is targeting shallow fish with the Carolina rig.

The remaining top-5 pros who will fish the final day at Lake Eufaula are:

3rd: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 15 bass, 58-13

4th: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., 15 bass, 56-13

5th: J.T. Kenney, Palm Bay, Fla., 15 bass, 56-9

The remaining pro anglers in top-10 are:

6th: Chuck Howard, Elloree, S.C., 15 bass, 55-2, $13,134

7th: John Cox, Debary, Fla., 15 bass, 53-4, $8,000

8th: Derek Hicks, Rocky Face, Ga., 15 bass, 52-15, $7,500

9th: Koby Kreiger, Okeechobee, Fla., 12 bass, 51-10, $7,000

10th: Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 15 bass, 51-8, $6,500

Overall there were 509 bass weighing 1,422 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 133 pros Friday. The catch included 67 five-bass limits.

In FLW Series competition, pros are competing for a top award of $50,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for a shot at the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing.

Matt Hults of Gautier, Miss., won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger 177TR with a 90 horsepower Evinrude outboard motor Friday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 47 pounds, 12 ounces followed by his brother Chris Hults of Vancleave, Miss., in second place with 12 bass weighing 35-13 worth $6,386. Matt also received $1,500 for being the Ranger Cup program winner.

Matt Hults also won a $1,000 gift card as part of the new Cabela’s Angler Cash program. Beginning in 2010, Cabela’s is offering pro and co-anglers the opportunity to register and win a $1000 gift card for being the highest qualified finisher in each division at all FLW Series events, making the stakes even higher in an already rich award package. Anglers can visit FLWOutdoors.com for a complete list of rules and to register.

Hults opened the tournament Wednesday with five bass weighing 20-2 while fishing with pro Scott Montgomery of Eufaula. On Thursday he caught four bass weighing 15-15 while fishing with pro David Fritts of Lexington, N.C. He wrapped up the win Friday with a five-bass catch weighing 11-11 while fishing with pro Patrick Baynes of Chatsworth, Ga.

“This place is just about the best you can get for bass fishing,” said Hults. “There’s a lot of big fish here. It’s similar to what we fish around the house and we just came up here and fished as hard as we can.”

Hults said he caught fish deep on a jig the first day of competition, one fish on a crankbait and three on a Carolina rig the second day and with a Carolina rig on the final day of co-angler competition. Hults said the fluctuating water levels didn’t affect him as it did some other anglers because he was targeting deep fish.

“All week I was wishing I was fishing shallow like my brothers, but the big fish were (deep), so I just took advantage of what was put in front of me,” Hults said.

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers are:

3rd: Mike Casada, Stearns, Ky., 11 bass, 34-11, $3,750

4th: Kurtis Michaux, Clermont, Fla., 11 bass, 33-11, $2,500

5th: Wayne Hauser, Mooresville, N.C., 12 bass, 33-11, $2,000

6th: George Kapiton, Inverness, Fla., 13 bass, 32-15, $1,962

7th: Dean Tucker, Hiawassee, Ga., 12 bass, 32-10, $1,250

8th: William Ranquist Jr., Park Ridge, Ill., 10 bass, 32-6, $1,000

9th: Delmer Wyatt, Crossville, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-3, $1,245

10th: Keith Carson, Debary, Fla., nine bass, 31-11, $750

Co-anglers are also competing for valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.

Overall there were 293 bass weighing 697 pounds, 5 ounces caught by 119 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 13 five-bass limits.

The remaining five pros will take off at 7 Saturday morning from Lakepoint Resort State Park located at 104 Lakepoint Drive in Eufaula. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at Billy Lawrence Chevrolet located at 3220 S. Eufaula Ave. in Eufaula, beginning at 4 p.m.

Fans will be treated to a Family Fun Zone at Billy Lawrence Chevrolet prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. There will be a drawing for a $300 Cabela’s gift card and drawings for rod and reel combos will be held every 30 minutes during the event. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.

Coverage of the Lake Eufaula tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors”, will air May 16 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.

ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.

Hults Leads FLW Series Event On Lake Eufaula

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